


Out Here On My Own

by rptlotp



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Aromantic Character, Asexuality Spectrum, Bisexual Character, F/F, Genderqueer Character, Implied Sexual Content, Lesbian Character, M/M, Multi, Non-binary character, Pansexual Character, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 00:49:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15108281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rptlotp/pseuds/rptlotp
Summary: Gladion receives an enigmatic card from a certain Steven Stone.Written for Pride Month 2018





	Out Here On My Own

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this mess of a fic for Pride Month so hopefully it isn't too late lmao. This entire thing is basically a hodgepodge of different Pokémon characters smashed into one universe (without Pokémon sadly) and now they're all queer.
> 
> All interpretations and headcanons of the characters are my own, etc., feel free to agree or not... but comment your own headcanons if you like, I'd be interested.
> 
> Also I have no idea how LGBTQ+ support groups or whatever work so forgive me, I just wrote this in a way that felt natural to me

Gladion hesitantly walked up the stairs of the building, doubting himself more and more with each step upward. Was this really the correct place? It seemed rather bland. He had received instructions to come to the white building on the corner of 5th and Slateport, but perhaps it was inaccurate... Mindlessly adjusting his binder underneath his hoodie, he recalled the strange man who had told him to come. 

Gladion had somehow found his way into a large store called Devon, which sold lots of various items. After wandering around for a bit, he found himself particularly enraptured by a metal bracelet embedded with sparkling, green stones. He wondered what type of stone it was. Certainly not one they had many of in his hometown. 

"I see you've discovered our prized collection."

Gladion spun around immediately and was met by a man with light blue hair and eyes to match. He then noticed that this man was dressed exquisitely, with a few metal bracelets to boot. He blinked, suddenly self-conscious of his own ripped hoodie and jeans. He subconsciously adjusted his binder—which had become a rather common habit of his—, not sure of what to say. 

"Yes," he finally managed, which caused the other man to smirk. Face burning, Gladion averted his gaze towards the ground.

As soon as it became apparent that Gladion was not going to speak further, the other man replied. "It's made of emeralds. Aren't they beautiful? Emerald is quite a precious material, and so rare, too... It's why I hesitate to part with this particular one," he tapped the glass casing softly, "especially since it was my husband and I who found them."

At this, Gladion's head shot up. But—there wasn't—had he misheard? But the man just chuckled. "Yes, I think you heard me right."

"I'm sorry, I just—" Gladion began, but was cut off.

"No need to apologize. In fact," the man said. "My name is Steven Stone. If I may ask, what's yours?"

Steven Stone? Wasn't he the president of the entire Devon corporation? And he just happened to be here? And he had a _husband_?

Gladion suddenly realized that his inner thoughts must have caused an awkward pause between him and Steven, and shakes the outstretched hand. "Sorry. I'm Gladion."

"Gladion," Steven repeated. "Say, I hate to assume... but how would you like to join us for a small group meeting? People just like you and me. All very nice. Well... some of them. We would really love a new member..." He left the question hanging. 

So many questions were racing through Gladion's head that all he could do was mumble an affirmation. He barely registered taking a small business card from Steven before just standing there for a while, his legs refusing to move, stunned about what had just happened. 

And now somehow his legs were still carrying him up the stairs. What even was the group for, anyway? Didn't Steven say that there were going to be people? Didn't he hate people? 

But apparently his body hated him more, for Gladion found himself walking through the doorway and taking the nearest left—

And almost crashing straight into another man's chest.

The man was tall with turquoise hair and a long, flowy outfit. His midriff was barely covered save for two small strips, and a blush rose to Gladion's cheeks once he noticed. He also noticed that the bracelets on the man's wrist were similar to the ones Steven had worn. Turquoise-man, however, barely seemed fazed at the almost-catastrophe that had just taken place. "Well! You must be Gladion. Welcome. My name is Wallace. We were just about to get started... why don't you come on in?"

Gladion, still a little bit in shock from almost colliding into straight skin, dutifully followed Wallace's lead. The first thing he noticed was that there weren't too many people - maybe ten or fifteen. Thank goodness. He didn't think he could handle much more than that. The second thing he noticed was the rather large amount of diversity and variety within them - or as much diversity as ten people could have, anyway. There were teenagers his age, but there were also adults of many races and ethnicities. The room also seemed to be evenly split male to female, with a few who appeared outside the binary, or gender non-conforming, perhaps. So if it wasn't a certain age or gender, and it was open to everybody, then...

A familiar voice brought Gladion back to earth. "Gladion!" It was Steven Stone. "I'm glad you could make it. I see you've already met my husband... Come and sit!"

 _Met_ was probably an understatement, Gladion mumbled, face flushing. But if he had suspected what this place was before, he certainly knew now. There was no doubt in his mind that this was a group targeted towards people of different sexualities and identities. He only wondered how Steven knew to invite him here. With a little bit of hesitation, he slid into the open seat next to Steven, with another teenaged boy on his other side.

"Psst," the boy whispered. He had skin darker than Gladion's and eyes the color of space. "Hi! Are you new? Well, you must be, I've never seen you around before. Where are you from? What's your name?"

Gladion blinked, overwhelmed by the boy's enthusiasm. Luckily, he was spared from having to answer. "Hush, Hau," Steven chided gently. "Let him introduce himself to everyone first." 

Okay. Deep breaths. "Hi," he mumbled. "Um, I'm Gladion. Steven told me about... this place. So, I'm trans. You know, like, he/him pronouns. And I like guys. I'm actually from a place pretty far away, but I'm here to become better. And stronger. My dog, Null, helps me with that."

As he spoke, he did his best to look around the circle. When he mentioned Null, however, he swore he heard someone snort in contempt. Heat rose to the back of his neck, as it always did when someone insulted him or his family. "You got something to say?" he challenged, swiveling towards the source of the noise. 

But someone had apparently beat him to it. The source of the snort was a man with a light-colored coat and blond hair, with a blue strip curving up and around. It vaguely reminded Gladion of something he had seen before on the internet, but he couldn't place exactly what. By his side was another man, perhaps a few years older than Gladion himself, with thick green hair that flowed out under his hat and onto his back. 

"Colress, can't you _ever_ be nice to someone that you've just met?" the green-haired man complained. Gladion noticed that he was talking rather quickly. 

"Unless it's science or research ideas, I find it hardly ever worth paying attention to," Colress dismissed. Gladion opened his mouth to retort, but Colress had already moved on. "On second thought, however, perhaps he could help with mine!" He turned towards Gladion, eliciting a scowl. "I am interested in gathering data about LGBT individuals! Tell me, at what age did you realize that your gender deviated from what others expected of you?"

Gladion paused to think for a moment. "Probably since I was a kid? I have a sister, and when we were younger, my mother tried to mold me into a role model for her by being overly feminine, wearing dresses, that sort of thing. I never liked it. I just didn't want to be a girl role model."

Colress nodded, eyes glinting behind his glasses. "And when did you discover your romantic attraction towards men?"

This was a bit harder, and he was becoming slightly uncomfortable at the intense level of questioning. "I'm not sure, I just—"

"How about sexual attraction?"

Gladion sputtered. "I—uh—"

"That's enough, Colress." A calm female voice washed over him, and he breathed out heavily. "Look, you're traumatizing the poor boy. Maybe you can ask him later?"

Colress relented—earning an approving glance from the green-haired man—, and Gladion found himself mouthing "thanks" to the girl who had stepped in. She was rather pretty, with fair skin and short light brown hair. She also had a pink hat and a ribbon tied around her collar to match. Next to her was another girl, with whom her fingers were interlocked.

 _Don't sweat it,_ she mouthed back.

The girl next to her beamed, noticing this interaction. She leaned over towards Gladion and stage-whispered, "Isn't my girlfriend the _greatest?_ "

Ah, so they were together. That explained the whole hand thing. He nodded mutely as she again whispered, "The name's Shauna. Nice to meet ya."

"Well," Steven clapped his hands together, which caused a red-haired girl to jump in surprise. "For Gladion's sake, we should probably all take turns introducing ourselves... My name is Steven. I'm interested in rare stones and traveling around to find them. I would consider myself bisexual... but the only person I love is right beside me."

"How flattering," Wallace teased. "I thought the only person you loved was yourself."

Gladion watched as Steven and Wallace gazed at each other. "Heh... I do also love myself... but only when you aren't home."

"Oh, is that so?" Wallace murmured wickedly. "Why don't you show me, later?"

Before Steven could respond, Gladion averted his gaze, feeling somewhat like he was intruding. He chose to look down at his lap instead, face blushing a deep red. 

"Just ignore them," the boy next to him—Hau?—whispered. "This happens all the time. They just get kind of caught up in each other, you know?"

No, he really _didn't_ know, but he was saved from having to find out by someone clearing their throat. He then heard a bit of shuffling.

"Excuse me for being rude," Wallace said smoothly, and Gladion decided that it must be safe to look up again. "My name is Wallace, as you know. I have a passion for art, elegance, and the sea, which is of course very elegant. I also consider myself bi. Lastly, I am non-binary but choose to use he/him pronouns. I think they suit me quite well, don't you agree, dear...?" He glanced sideways at Steven as he spoke.

Gladion felt a guilty stab of panic in his chest that he had originally assumed Wallace to be male. Although he had no way of knowing otherwise, and didn't state it out loud or harm anyone, he resolved to try not to assume things from then on. He then directed his attention towards the person sitting next to Wallace, a teenager with hair that reminded him of the brightest fires.

"I'm Flannery! I love girls with spirit and determination like me!"

"Nice to meet you, Gladion. I'm Olivia. Lesbian. I like things to do with jewelry, rocks... you know, that sort of stuff."

"Ilima here. I like to develop and analyze things. Like Wallace, I am also non-binary, but I go by they and them."

"I am Siebold, a master chef. I believe cooking is one of the highest forms of art. I am also genderqueer."

"I am a scientist. My name is Colress. The theme of my current research is to discover the true diversity within the LGBTQ+ community! Diversity! It is a wonderful thing. Starting with myself, of course, and documenting everyone else. As a transgender male who has never experienced romantic attraction, I have found that..."

At that point, Gladion's head was spinning. He had never met this many people...like him, before. He hadn't even known what the word "transgender" meant until a few years ago. Lusamine, in her unstable state, did not even notice when he began to change his style. His sister, Lillie, had supported him up to the point when he had decided to take Null, suffering due to abuse, away. It had hurt, leaving Lillie like that, but he knew he had to keep Null safe, and to find something that would help his mother. 

Mentally shaking off the flashback, he found himself gazing at Colress, who was somehow still talking. Colress looked and sounded perfectly like a stereotypical man, with a deep and breathy voice that resonated well. Gladion couldn't help but feel envious towards Colress and everyone else who could "pass" well, but he forced his feelings down and waited.

The next person in the circle was the one with green hair from earlier. "My name is N," he greeted quickly. "Before you ask, it's a nickname."

Gladion wasn't really sure he was going to have asked in the first place, but he nodded along anyway. This person really was a fast speaker.

"I'm male and consider myself pan," N continued. "However, recently I also discovered myself to be on the asexual spectrum, so there is that. A little bit about me as well: I cannot stand to see any animal hurt, and I will do whatever I can to protect them. You mentioned you had a dog?"

Gladion nodded, unsure. "Null."

"I would love to meet them someday," N replied.

Next, Gladion watched the person who had stepped in between him and Colress earlier introduce herself as Serena. "I don't really like labeling myself," she said. "All that matters is that I love Shauna."

Shauna then introduced herself as a lesbian—"It feels like there's a bunch of us here!"—and reaffirmed her relationship with Serena. 

The penultimate person to introduce herself was a trans woman named Fantina. She wore a long flowy dress with purple hair to match. When she spoke, Gladion noticed that she had a bit of an accent and her vocabulary was peppered with seemingly French phrases. He had no idea what _c'est pareil_ meant, but it didn't terribly impede his comprehension, so he listened to her talk about dancing and her husband. He also noticed that she seemed to have chosen not to pursue HRT, but he didn't want to come off as rude by bringing it up. She also seemed perfectly confident in her appearance despite this, and Gladion hoped one day he would achieve that level of self-confidence. 

Finally, it was time for the teenager sitting to Gladion's right. He briefly remembered Steven calling him "Hau," but he was quite curious to see just what made this kid so bouncy and energetic. Hau smiled and adjusted his posture so that he was facing Gladion.

"My name's Hau! I'm from Alola—we have the _best_ malasadas, by the way—and I'm, well... I'm not really sure what I am yet. But I know I'll figure it out!" As he said that last sentence, his eyes seemed to bore into Gladion's. Slightly unnerved, he looked away briefly. But wait...

"You're from Alola?" Gladion asked in disbelief. "Which island?"

"Melemele, Iki Town," Hau answered cheerfully. "Why?"

Gladion thought it was perhaps unwise of Hau to reveal his hometown to a complete stranger, but it was no matter. "Just asking. My family's from Aether." He purposely left out the part about his family where his father disappeared suddenly and his mother went insane trying to cope. 

"Aether, huh?" Hau grinned. "I've always wanted to go there! I keep asking my gramps if we can visit, but he's always busy. One day I'll show him..."

Gladion nodded, bemused. "It's really not that special." He recalled the day he found his beloved Null, dirty and cowering in fear. "Really, it's probably worse than you think. Trust me."

Hau opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Steven, who cleared his throat.

"So, now that we have all had chances to introduce ourselves... would anyone like to share a story or something good that happened recently? I guess I will start," Steven said. Wallace chuckled to himself and shook his head, evidently knowing what was to come, although Gladion didn't. "Just recently I found some more ammolite..." 

Collective groans rang out amongst the group. Wallace nudged Steven in the arm. 

"Nobody wants to hear about your rock collection again, Steven," Flannery sighed.

"I want to hear about it," Olivia protested.

Privately, Gladion was also a bit intrigued, but he let it slide, still a bit too intimidated to speak up. Steven just shook his head. "I see how it is... fine. Anyone else wish to share?"

Gladion watched as Wallace whispered something in Steven's ear. Internally, he wondered what Wallace was saying, but if the flush on Steven's face was anything to go by, he was probably better off not knowing. His attention was drawn away from the pair, however, by someone else speaking.

"I finally cut all ties with my father," N offered slowly. "He had control over me for so many years of my life, but I'm not allowing that to happen anymore. Not after everything he has done to destroy all the lives around him." 

Warm murmurs and congratulations ran through the group. Gladion also managed a polite "congrats" despite not knowing the full story, though he didn't think he needed to.

"I always despised him," Colress remarked. N nodded grimly. 

"Apologies for that being quite somber. Perhaps someone else has something a bit more lively?"

Gladion listened and watched as the people around him shared their stories.

"Shauna and I went to a fashion show! It was honestly amazing. Aria is so talented!"

"Le Wow now has two Michelin Stars."

"I think this girl might like me! I was having kind of a rough day, so she took me to the hot springs and tried to cheer me up..."

"This month marks my three years on hormone replacement therapy. I am interested in seeing where my research develops from here!"

"What about you, Gladion?"

What? Oh, that was Hau. Damn him for making him speak up again, although it probably couldn't hurt to answer...

"Uh, well—" He struggled and subconsciously adjusted his binder. "I got referred to as sir on my way here... so that felt nice." 

"Nice!" Hau grinned. "It's always the little things, huh."

Everyone else was equally as supportive, as if Gladion had known them for fifteen years and not fifteen minutes. Then they moved right along, which he was very grateful for. Being the center of attention was... unsettling, to say the least, but he was content to let Hau prattle on about his grandfather. And Ilima about their latest invention. And then Steven about his stone collection, to which everybody once again groaned. 

He didn't know these people well at all, but as he watched them speak about their experiences, Gladion began to feel more and more at ease. His shoulders relaxed ever-so-slightly, releasing tension and lowering the guard he had always learned to put up. He breathed out, let himself smile, and was met with an equally radiant one.

Maybe, just maybe, he could fit in here.


End file.
